1966 Chevrolet Suburban - Lime Crush

Companies in the automotive aftermarket often find themselves trying to display their product on racks or tables at shows and expos, but the best way is to showcase the product in a vehicle. That is exactly what the Accel Performance Group thought when trying to find the perfect marketing vehicle. That answer came by way of a 1966 Chevrolet Suburban that would make the perfect starting point for a build of epic proportions. After the vehicle was purchased, it was promptly delivered to the Roadster Shop, in Mundelein, Illinois, for the transformation of a lifetime.

The first item on the agenda was to rid the truck of everything but the bare sheetmetal. This left a fresh canvas as a starting point for the talented fabricators at the Roadster Shop to begin the massaging process. Reshaped, smoothed, and tucked front and rear bumpers give the Chevy a clean look coming and going. All four wheel openings were then stretched and reshaped to give the bottom half of the truck a custom touch. The top half features shaved door handles, a modified hood and fenders, and one-piece, flush-mounted glass all the way around. Under the hood, a completely smoothed firewall was created to give all the attention to the big-block that would soon reside there. After some final touches, the body went into the paint booth and received a coat of custom-mixed PPG “Mr. Gasket Green” paint on the body and eggshell white paint on the roof.

2/7Mr. Gasket spared no expense with this build. Everything down to the surfboard rack, surfboards, and stickers was custom made.

With the body fresh from paint, it was mated with a Roadster Shop Fast Track chassis featuring IFS, a four-link rear, and a Strange Engineering Ford 9-inch. Penske Racing coilovers inhabit the corners for bump relief, while 22- and 24-inch Billet Specialties wheels were shod in Pirelli rubber to get the ’Burb rolling. But a rolling vehicle must eventually come to a stop, and this is handled by Roadster Shop–edition Baer 14-inch six-piston brakes.

Since this would be a display vehicle for the Accel Performance Group, it needed to have something worthwhile under the hood. While most people are going the way of LS, this Suburban received a big-block 502ci V-8. Loaded with Accel, Mallory, and Mr. Gasket parts—as well as Sanderson headers and Flowmaster mufflers—this motor churns out more than 500 hp and 550 lb-ft of torque, which is plenty for anything this beast would come up against in the real world. A 4L85e and custom driveshaft connects the 502ci engine to the 9-inch differential in the rear.

The insane attention to detail didn’t stop with the exterior, as the interior guys got down with the massive expanse inside the doors of this sixth-gen ’Burban. Starting with the floors, Costa Rican Teak was laid down from the firewall back to the rear hatch. A pair of ’61 Impala bucket seats was re-covered in brown leather with woven leather inserts. Matching upholstery was installed on the custom-crafted rear bench seat. A custom dual-hump dash houses the reworked original gauge cluster as well as the Vintage Air vents and a Kicker Audio controller.

This truck is certainly a lime green masterpiece and the perfect place to showcase Accel’s products. It also serves as an eye-catcher at shows, drawing in crowds that are in need of product for their own builds. The Accel Performance Group wanted to thank the talented team at the Roadster Shop for all of their hard work on the build.